An analysis of the Photographs in Digital Archive of UNESCO

The present study discussed the digitally archived photographs available in the digital archive section of the website of UNESCO. A total of 5048 photographs have been analyzed based on the topic, country, year, photographer\u27s name, and the name of the person. It is found that digital archives are playing an important role to know about one’s culture, past events, and initiatives. Digital archives are advantageous over traditional archives as they can be preserved for a longer period whereas traditional archives have many drawbacks such as getting damaged by rain, moisture, fire, and natural disasters. Every event that is useful from a future point of view should be digitized

BIOAVAILABILITY ENHANCDEMENT OF POORLY SOLUBLE DRUGS BY SMEDDS: A REVIEW

Oral route has always been the favorite route of drug administration in many diseases and till today it is the first way investigated in the development of new dosage forms. The major problem in oral drug formulations is low and erratic bioavailability, which mainly results from poor aqueous solubility, thereby pretense problems in their formulation. More than 40% of potential drug products suffer from poor water solubility. For the therapeutic delivery of lipophilic active moieties (BCS class II drugs), lipid based formulations are inviting increasing attention. Currently a number of technologies are available to deal with the poor solubility, dissolution rate and bioavailability of insoluble drugs such as micronization, solid dispersions or cyclodextrin complex formation and different technologies of drug delivery systems. One of the promising techniques is Selfâ€Micro Emulsifying Drug Delivery Systems (SMEDDS). Self emulsifying drug delivery system has gained more attention due to enhanced oral bio-availability enabling reduction in dose, more consistent temporal profiles of drug absorption, selective targeting of drug(s) toward specific absorption window in GIT, and protection of drug(s) from the unreceptive environment in gut. This article gives a complete overview of SMEDDS as a promising approach to effectively deal with the problem of poorly soluble molecules. Keywords: SMEDDS, surfactant, oil, co-surfactant, bioavailabilit

Pursuing Digital Learning Platform Success: A Meta-Analytic Investigation of User and Cultural Contingencies

Digital learning platforms (DLPs) have emerged as highly effective tools to meet contemporary organizations’ learning and knowledge-creation needs. Advanced information and communication technologies (ICT) embedded in these platforms create mobile learning workspaces that deliver ubiquitous yet targeted learning experiences. Scholars have shown a keen interest in assessing the success of DLPs, but most studies have examined only a specific aspect of DLP success. Current findings also show inconsistencies and contradictions that confound our understanding of this important topic. As a result, an integrated and accurate understanding of DLP success is missing. In this paper, we adopt rigorous meta-analytic procedures to consolidate extant findings and reconcile inconsistencies in our understanding of DLP success. Additionally, we extend our meta-analyses to investigate the contingency effects of two moderating variables—user context and cultural context. The results provide a more comprehensive and accurate understanding of DLP success. Our study contributes to the literature by extending the theory on DLPs and information systems (IS) success and by providing insightful recommendations for practitioners

Profile of congenital defects in foetuses: incidence and risk factors: a prospective observational study

Background: Perinatal outcome is one of the major indicators of evaluating health care system of a country. Congenital defects form important components of this parameter. The aim of the study was to determine the risk factors associated with congenital malformations in foetuses.Methods: All antenatal mothers whose foetuses were detected to have congenital defects on ultrasonography irrespective of period of gestation were enrolled for the study.Results: Eighty-six pregnant women with prenatally diagnosed fetal anomalies were enrolled for the study, out of which, 87.2% (N=75) belonged to 20-30 years age group. Majority of the subjects were educated till secondary school. Compared to primigravidae, the incidence of malformations was significantly higher in the multigravida group (69.8% vs 30.2% respectively). Thirty-eight (44.2%) mothers with malformed foetuses missed folic acid intake during early pregnancy. Only 40% mothers had prior history of abortions. Smoking was seen in 9% of subjects with malformations. Seven (8.3%) mothers had previous history of malformations and 5 (5.8%) reported a family history of malformations. Consanguineous marriage was observed in 4.7% of couples. Oligohydramnios or anhydramnios was associated with 11.6% foetuses, while polyhydramnios was seen in 53.5%. CNS malformations were seen in 57% of foetus, followed by genitourinary system malformations (9.2%).Conclusions: Tertiary level hospitals need to be upgraded with a dedicated multidisciplinary team of foetal medicine to cater to medical, clinical, surgical, preventive and therapeutic needs of malformed foetuses

Genome Sequence of Peacock Reveals the Peculiar Case of a Glittering Bird

The unique ornamental features and extreme sexual traits of Peacock have always intrigued scientists and naturalists for centuries. However, the genomic basis of these phenotypes are yet unknown. Here, we report the first genome sequence and comparative analysis of peacock with the high quality genomes of chicken, turkey, duck, flycatcher and zebra finch. Genes involved in early developmental pathways including TGF-β, BMP, and Wnt signaling, which have been shown to be involved in feather patterning, bone morphogenesis, and skeletal muscle development, revealed signs of adaptive evolution and provided useful clues on the phenotypes of peacock. Innate and adaptive immune genes involved in complement system and T-cell response also showed signs of adaptive evolution in peacock suggesting their possible role in building a robust immune system which is consistent with the predictions of the Hamilton–Zuk hypothesis. This study provides novel genomic and evolutionary insights into the molecular understanding toward the phenotypic evolution of Indian peacock

Meta-analysis of the space flight and microgravity response of the Arabidopsis plant transcriptome

15 p.-8 fig.-2 tab.Spaceflight presents a multifaceted environment for plants, combining the effects on growth of many stressors and factors including altered gravity, the influence of experiment hardware, and increased radiation exposure. To help understand the plant response to this complex suite of factors this study compared transcriptomic analysis of 15 Arabidopsis thaliana spaceflight experiments deposited in the National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s GeneLab data repository. These data were reanalyzed for genes showing significant differential expression in spaceflight versus ground controls using a single common computational pipeline for either the microarray or the RNA-seq datasets. Such a standardized approach to analysis should greatly increase the robustness of comparisons made between datasets. This analysis was coupled with extensive cross-referencing to a curated matrix of metadata associated with these experiments. Our study reveals that factors such as analysis type (i.e., microarray versus RNA-seq) or environmental and hardware conditions have important confounding effects on comparisons seeking to define plant reactions to spaceflight. The metadata matrix allows selection of studies with high similarity scores, i.e., that share multiple elements of experimental design, such as plant age or flight hardware. Comparisons between these studies then helps reduce the complexity in drawing conclusions arising from comparisons made between experiments with very different designs.This work was coordinated through the GeneLab Plant Analysis Working Group and was supported by NASA grants 80NSSC19K0126, 80NSSC18K0132 and 80NSSC21K0577 to S.G. and R.B., through NASA 80NSSC19K1481 to S.W., NNX15AG55G to C.W., and NNX15AG56G to L.D. and N.L., from the Spanish Agencia Estatal de Investigación grant RTI2018-099309-B-I00 and ESA 1340112 4000131202/20/NL/PG/pt to R.H. Contributions from P.J. and P.G. were partially supported by funds from the Oregon State University, NSF awards 1127112 and 1340112 and the United States Department of Agriculture, Agriculture Research Service. The Qlik software used in this work is provided under a free-to-use educational license from Qlik Technologies Inc. GeneLab datasets were obtained from https://genelab-data.ndc.nasa.gov/genelab/projects/, maintained by NASA GeneLab, NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, CA 94035.Peer reviewe

The Gene Ontology knowledgebase in 2023

The Gene Ontology (GO) knowledgebase (http://geneontology.org) is a comprehensive resource concerning the functions of genes and gene products (proteins and noncoding RNAs). GO annotations cover genes from organisms across the tree of life as well as viruses, though most gene function knowledge currently derives from experiments carried out in a relatively small number of model organisms. Here, we provide an updated overview of the GO knowledgebase, as well as the efforts of the broad, international consortium of scientists that develops, maintains, and updates the GO knowledgebase. The GO knowledgebase consists of three components: (1) the GO-a computational knowledge structure describing the functional characteristics of genes; (2) GO annotations-evidence-supported statements asserting that a specific gene product has a particular functional characteristic; and (3) GO Causal Activity Models (GO-CAMs)-mechanistic models of molecular "pathways" (GO biological processes) created by linking multiple GO annotations using defined relations. Each of these components is continually expanded, revised, and updated in response to newly published discoveries and receives extensive QA checks, reviews, and user feedback. For each of these components, we provide a description of the current contents, recent developments to keep the knowledgebase up to date with new discoveries, and guidance on how users can best make use of the data that we provide. We conclude with future directions for the project

S-layer homology motif is an immunogen and confers protection to mouse model against anthrax

SLH proteins bear an S-layer homology motif comprised of three S-layer homology (SLH) domains. Several SLH proteins in Bacillus anthracis have been recognized as immunogenic in recent past. We hypothesized that the SLH motif, the most common moiety amongst all the SLH proteins could be responsible for their immunogenicity. To test this hypothesis, we checked the immunogenic capacity of recombinant SLH motif. The rSLH fragment on immunization in mice led to the development of a potent humoral and T Helper immune response as compared to the only adjuvant immunized group. Antibodies raised against rSLH could identify the surface of B. anthracis Ames strain vegetative forms. rSLH immunization protected 50% mice challenged with B. anthracis compared to 0% survival in group of mice immunized with only adjuvant. But when rSLH immunization was synergized with a single sub-optimal dose of rPA (Protective Antigen), 80% immunized mice survived the lethal challenge of B. anthracis. Taken together, for the first time we demonstrate the immunogenic and protective potential of SLH motif of the SLH proteins of B. anthracis

A study on pre-XDR & XDR tuberculosis & their prevalent genotypes in clinical isolates of Mycobacterium tuberculosis in north India

Background & objectives: Pre-extensively drug resistant (pre-XDR) and extensively drug resistant tuberculosis (XDR-TB) have been areas of growing concern, and are posing threat to global efforts of TB control. The present study was planned to study the presence of pre-XDR and XDR Mycobacterium tuberculosis and their genotypes in clinical isolates obtained from previously treated cases of pulmonary TB. Methods: A total of 219 isolates obtained from previously treated cases of pulmonary TB were subjected to first-line (streptomycin, isoniazid, rifampicin and ethambutol) and second-line (ofloxacin, kanamycin, capreomycin and amikacin) drug susceptibility testing on solid Lowenstein-Jensen medium by proportion method. Genotyping was done for pre-XDR and XDR-TB isolates using 12 loci Mycobacterial Interspersed Repetitive Units-Variable Number Tandem Repeats (MIRU-VNTR). Results: Multi-drug resistance was observed in 39.7 per cent (87/219) isolates. pre-XDR and XDR M. tuberculosis isolates amongst 87 multi-drug resistant (MDR) TB isolates were 43 (49.4%) and 10 (11.4%), respectively. Two most dominant genotypes among pre-XDR and XDR M. tuberculosis isolates were Beijing and Delhi/CAS types. Interpretation & conclusions: Resistance to second-line anti-tubercular drugs should be routinely assessed in areas endemic for TB. Similar genotype patterns were seen in pre-XDR and XDR-TB isolates. Beijing and Delhi/CAS were predominant genotypes